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Leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu
The legal team of the embattled pro-Biafra agitator, Nnamdi Kanu, has said he is ready to challenge any court in the country that violates the rule of law in his ongoing trial.
Justice Binta Nyako of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on Monday, indefinitely adjourned Nnamdi Kanu’s trial.
The judge made the decision following Kanu’s insistence that she could not preside over his case, citing her previous recusal.
But in a statement issued on Wednesday, the leader of Kanu’s legal team, Aloy Ejimakor, said Kanu had directed them to announce to the world that “the era of institutional bias against him by Abuja courts is over in his case.”
“During our visitation today, Nnamdi Kanu instructed us to convey to the civilised world his resolve to take his trial, insofar as it comports with the tenets of the law.
“He stands ready to challenge any court that fails to align its decisions with the rule of law.
“He maintains that, with the obvious exception of one, the rest of the decisions taken in his cases in Abuja have been riddled with blatant unconstitutionality in contravention of Section 36 of the Nigerian Constitution, which mandates courts to be ‘independent’ and ‘impartial,’” Ejimakor stated.
He noted that “the finding made by the Supreme Court to the effect that Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako is biased by revoking Mazi Kanu’s bail is a sufficient reason to oust her jurisdiction, especially as she also dishonoured the Supreme Court by her inexplicable refusal to reinstate the bail.”
“In the circumstances, therefore, especially consequent upon her recusal, Justice Binta Murtala-Nyako should no longer have any business with Mazi Kanu’s case. Thus, it is an egregious breach of the law for the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court (Justice John Tsoho) to reassign Mazi Kanu’s case to a judge whose jurisdiction is forever barred by an extant order of recusal,” he added.
Kanu’s lawyer, who argued that the February 10, 2025, ruling of Justice Binta Nyako’s court had no foundation in law, said it was incorrect to claim that the court had adjourned Kanu’s trial indefinitely.
“Those peddling the narrative that Mazi Kanu’s case has been adjourned indefinitely do not understand basic law, and that is this: Once a judge is recused, she has lost the jurisdiction to convene, sit, or deliver any ruling on the same case from which she has been recused. That’s what the black letter law says, and it shall abide, now and forever,” Ejimakor stated.
